Originally posted by blprice61:

Originally posted by Megahurts:

I would skip the hut altogether. Just sneak through the portal when you need to...as long as you are 'undetected', nothing will bother it.

Of course, if say a drake and a stone gollem are squabbling nearby it could take some collateral damage so there are risks...but a couple stake walls aren't going to help much in that situation either.

Most of the time an undefended portal by itself is fine, but it is really easy to be distracted and either forget to sneak or not realize something detected you at the last moment. On top of that, the chest, workbench, and/or roof can come in handy in some situations

I suppose it's something of a matter of taste, but I'm in the 'better safe than sorry' camp.

Along those lines, it's good to have a sheltered portal in the mountains. I've gotten the wet debuff before from portaling in from another biome where it was raining, even when the first portal, the one actually in the rain, was covered. Seems that it takes a bit for the game to realize that the rain should be snow and by then you're already wet.

Unrelated, using a pickaxe along the steep side of a mountain is an easy way to make your own personal highway along otherwise impassible cliffs. Make sure you mark the entrance and exit ramps on your map.